However, David Blanchflower, a former member of the central bank, now at Dartmouth College, fears the recent data are offering false positives for an economy that continues to struggle with weak productivity and stagnant wages.

“Inflation is set to drop after one-off effects of the pound’s decline,” associated with the initial reaction to last year’s Brexit vote, Blanchflower told Business Insider.

The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee may be “set to make a huge error” if it does follow through on tightening monetary policy, he said.

“This has the feeling of August 2008,” Blanchflower said, referencing the time when the central bank was tightening monetary policy even as the UK and global economies slipped into the worst recession in generations. “There’s zero in the data to justify a raise.”